Friday, September 29, 2006

Hong Kong Trip (Part 2)

3rd day (18th August - Friday)June was early on day 3, (18th August, Friday) to pick us up at around 8.30 a.m. Guided us to the subway of Yau Mah Tei and took the MTR to Sheung Wan. While we were having our breakfast in Maxim's Fast Food, Gilbert joined us. After breakfast, we were on our way to the Ferry Terminal to board the ferry to Macau. Gilbert was working in Macau then. It took about an hour to reach Macau. Actually we planned to go to LantauIsland to see the giant Buddha and Macau was not in our planned itinerary but the cable cars were not in service so we decided to visit Macau instead.

The MTRs are all built underground and there's a subway station in every district. Shops can be found at every subway stations too.

Elaine and I had a bad experience when we were queueing at the Macau Immigration counter to have our passports stamped. There were lots of people going over to Macau for the weekend. We were queueing in a lane and suddenly came a large group of Chinese tourists from the mainland who were extraordinary noisy and shoving their way thru with their luggages. Instead of one lane, they shoved and made it into a double lane! These people tried to jump queue and squeezed into any gaps they could find and pretended nothing happened. *tsk tsk tsk* such manners and attitude. And surprisingly there were no officers around to take charge.There was this Chinese man who was pushing his luggage with his legs and making his way thru OUR place and he even dared to complain why Elaine was ‘occupying’ his place. *duh* Elaine gave him a nasty stare and he dared not uttered a word anymore. We saw some of the Europeans were kind to allow them to jump queue in front of them. *shake head*We took a bus and got down at 'Sun Ma Lou' (New Road). From here, we walked our way to the famous sight of Macau – the ruins of the church of St. Paul. Didn't take many photos cos the sceneries did not appeal to me (I have no interest in ruins, Rome, Angkor Watts, Great Wall are definitely a No No for me).

We tried the famous 'Chee Par Pau' (Pork Chop Burger). June waited for quite a while for her turn cos they were so many thronging to buy the 'Chee Par Pau'.

Came lunch time, June took us to the Tou Tou Koi Restaurant where they serve Cantonese-styled food. June ordered Sharksfin soup again, knowing dat the soup is one of my favourites. There was another dish called the "Kum Chin Yuk" (Gold coin meat). The meat was something like the grilled pork meat which the restaurant is famous for (too bad, forgot to take a pic of the dish). Below are the other dishes June ordered. Swallowing ur saliva? Kakakakaka.

This was the restaurant where we had our lunch.

We went into the largest casino in Macau – Lisboa Hotel and Casino. Wow, wow, wow, it is no doubt dat it is one of Asia's finest casino hotel. I didn't try my luck in the casino cos losing 10 sen will be like extracting my tooth (heehee). Eugene did try his luck and won about HKGD1,000. Not bad, huh?

After sight-seeing for a while, we had to make a rush to the ferry terminal to catch the 5.30 p.m. ferry back to HKG. Another experience which I would like to remember is when June took us on the wrong bus! Instead of going to the ferry terminal, we were back to where we started. Quickly we had to go to the opposite direction to take the correct bus. We had a good laugh. Hahaha, 'kow ng tup putt' June is always like dat. To say dat I'm blur-blur, she can be blurer and a 'bigger head prawn' at times. Da's the cute part of her. We had dinner with Gilbert's parents, brother and some relatives in a private restaurant in Tin Hau where u have to prebook and walk-ins were not allowed. They were all very nice people but I did feel a little uncomfortable having dinner with them. There were 8 dishes and were simply delicious. Didn't notice the name of the place and too bad I dared not take any pics (manners mar if not Gilbert's parents will think dat we came from the jungle and live in trees, heeheehee).Day 4 (19th - Saturday)We got up early, went to the Yau Ma Tei subway and took the MTR to Mongkok to meet up with June at 8.30 a.m. From there, we took the Mongkok KCR (Kowloon-Canton Rail) to Loh Wu in Shenzen. The journey was about 45 mins. Once we reached Loh Wu, I had this funny feeling I don't like the place. Most of the people and their attitude were different where Cantonese was spoken in a very funny Teochew-like accent. After getting down from the train and we walked to a large shopping mall to have our brunch. We had the chance to try the 'knife scraped noodles' whereby they hold a dough of kneaded flour and using a sharp knife, the chef scraped pieces from the dough into the pot of soup. It's something like the 'pan meen' in M'sia. We oso had 'chee cheong fun', dim sum and veggie.

After brunch, we went straight to a 'relaxation' centre in the Loh Wu Centre. June, Elaine, Elyss and I went for the foot massage, manicure and ear candling whereas Eugene went for the body massage. Poor Ah Por sat in the cafeteria to wait for us. The services were very much cheaper compared to HKG and M'sia.It was in Loh Wu Centre where we went 'mad' shopping from tea to bags, toys, quilts, etc. There were lots of 'branded' goods. We were advised to hold on to our bags tightly and beware of pickpockets (guess everywhere's the same).aAnother experience was when Elaine and I were queueing in the washroom (Loh Wu shopping mall) with 2 other HKG ladies (from their accent), came this young pretty salesgirl who went passed us and stood in front of us. One of the ladies told her politely to queue behind and she answered (in a not-so-fluent Cantonese and funny accent) "Ng sai pai lar, chuin pou dou hai gam kah mar" (no need to queue lar, all are like dat mar). We (including the ladies) stared at her immediately and she, embarrasing, went behind us to wait for her turn. *shake head*

Gilbert took us for dinner in a restaurant where we had Wu Pak (Northern China) food. Haven't tried such food before. When the food were served on the table, I was like 'huh?, so weird looking' but when I tried, wuah lau eh! They were so delicious and tasty!

Gilbert told us dat Wu Pak dishes are mostly of the spicy taste. The people in the northern regions have to preserve the meat for winter use.

After dinner, went back to HKG by bus. On the way back to hotel, made a stop at the ever popular Temple Street (Mew Kai) – something like Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur or any other Pasar Malam (Nite Market). June told us we could not bargain much as compared to previously cos the prices were not 'jacked' up as high as it used to be. A bargain of a few dollars was quite reasonable.

Below are some of the 'dei dou' (local) HKG food.

Top left: An 'imitation' of sharksfin soup - slices of mushrooms & chicken, beaten eggs and lots of tapioca flour.